The Dart: Salinger once wrote at estate's guest house

Eve Sullivan

Published 8:11 pm, Sunday, September 29, 2013

Melina Brown raises chickens, turkeys and other birds at her home in Stamford, Conn. and sells the eggs. She's photographed on Monday September 16, 2013 in front of the new chicken coop.
Photo: Dru Nadler

Melina Brown raises chickens, turkeys and other birds at her home...

Melina Brown raises chickens, turkeys and other birds at her home in Stamford, Conn. and sells the eggs. She looks for eggs on Monday September 16, 2013.
Photo: Dru Nadler

Melina Brown raises chickens, turkeys and other birds at her home...

Melina Brown raises chickens, turkeys and other birds at her home in Stamford, Conn. and sells the eggs. She's photographed on Monday September 16, 2013.
Photo: Dru Nadler

Melina Brown raises chickens, turkeys and other birds at her home...

Melina Brown raises chickens, turkeys and other birds at her home in Stamford, Conn. and sells the eggs. She's photographed on Monday September 16, 2013.
Photo: Dru Nadler

Melina Brown raises chickens, turkeys and other birds at her home...

Melina Brown raises chickens, turkeys and other birds at her home in Stamford, Conn. and sells the eggs. The birds are photographed on Monday September 16, 2013.
Photo: Dru Nadler

Melina Brown raises chickens, turkeys and other birds at her home...

Melina Brown raises chickens, turkeys and other birds at her home in Stamford, Conn. and sells the eggs which are kept in a small refrigerator near the road.
Photo: Dru Nadler

Melina Brown raises chickens, turkeys and other birds at her home...

Melina Brown gives a baby chicken that she's hatched a kiss after gathering eggs on Monday September 16, 2013. Brown raises chickens, turkeys and other birds at her home in Stamford, Conn. and sells the eggs.
Photo: Dru Nadler

Melina Brown gives a baby chicken that she's hatched a kiss after...

Melina Brown gathers eggs from one of the chicken coops at her home in Stamford, Conn. on Monday September 16, 2013.
Photo: Dru Nadler

Melina Brown gathers eggs from one of the chicken coops at her home...

More Information

The Dart is a weekly feature in which reporters throw a dart at a map of Stamford and then go out in search of a story. This week the dart landed on Riverbank Road in the North Stamford.

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STAMFORD -- Once the site of her legendary grandfather's second home and the place where J.D. Salinger worked on "The Catcher in the Rye," Melina Brown's sprawling North Stamford estate has retained its rustic charm.

The property still feels like the place where a reclusive author would want to come for peace, tranquility and solitude. But it's also full of life, as chickens, roosters, peacocks, ducks, dogs and a pot-bellied pig run around.

"I have almost six acres," Brown said. "This was my grandfather's country house, and when he died, he left it to me."

Her grandfather was Himan Brown, a radio producer in the 1940s and '50s, who worked with notable actors such as Gregory Peck, Frank Sinatra and Orson Welles. He was also friendly with a bevy of writers, including Salinger.

Though Himan kept a 15-room apartment at Central Park West his entire life, he bought the house at Riverbank and Erskine roads in the 1940s and entertained several famous guests there. He died three years ago (in June 2010), a month before turning 100.

Salinger, Himan's most infamous guest, also died in 2010, at age 91.

It's believed Salinger rented the green cottage on the property, known as "the studio," in the years leading to the publication of his groundbreaking novel, "The Catcher in the Rye."

The book, published in 1951, has become an anthem of teenage angst and is still read in schools. The documentary "Salinger" was recently released, putting the book back on the New York Times best-seller list, while a movie based on the book hits the big screens next year.

"During his time in Connecticut, this is where he lived," Brown said. "It was 1948 to 52, and this is what I heard from my grandfather. He just came here to write."

Salinger apparently wrote at the cottage in the winters, then left when Brown and his family arrived for the summer. He later moved to New Hampshire, where he lived out the rest of his life.

The inside of the guest cottage is being renovated, and Brown said it will soon be going up for rent. It has high ceilings, a spiral staircase and a fireplace, with an old mantel taken from a church that dates back centuries.

"It was always one room, that's why we call it the studio," Brown said.

Brown's son, Barry, was living in the cottage, constructed in the 1940s, a few years ago. But he now attends Berkeley School of Music in Boston, and she's not sure if he'll move back.

The main house, built in 1900, once had an in-ground swimming pool in back. It's also sitting empty and will be rented out.

Brown will remain on the property, living in a giant new house she built with the money inherited from her grandfather.

Strolling around the grounds, the 52-year-old said that she began living in the house 20 years ago, watching it for her grandfather.

He came to visit on weekends.

At the chicken coop, dozens of fowl run around and a pig named Olive calmly rests in the middle, near his little house. Brown went inside the coop and pulled out a few eggs.

"I don't really eat eggs," she said. "I'm a little too close to the process."

Brown said her chickens are free range and natural, even munching on bugs outside.

Each day, she puts some eggs in a refrigerator that sits at the bottom of the driveway. A sign on the door says, "fresh eggs for sale here."

"People stop by and they pay in a little box," Brown said. "And I sell duck eggs to some restaurants."

As somewhat of an expert on chickens, Brown is able to identify the different species and color of the eggs they lay. She started a chicken meet-up group, which currently boasts 287 members.

And though they are native to South Asia, Brown has a group of peacocks strutting around the property.

"They go up in the trees sometimes to sleep," she said.

Brown is planting a garden and an orchard on the grounds, where she'll grow apples, pears and cherries. She also wants to raise bees.

The new 6,000-square-foot house combines the past with the present. Its base was built from old barn wood salvaged from Pennsylvania, while a cutting-edge solar system heats the inside.

Marek Pasciak, the general contractor, used the white oak columns to frame the house and to construct an adjoining barn, with a spacious loft.

Pasciak said he used the inner layer of the old barn for the outside panels of the house. He also made a giant outdoor fireplace in the front.